Words on the death of Trevor Hopf. Advocate. Footballer. Father. Drinker.

On Wednesday night, after a call from a friend, I found well-known advocate at the Pretoria Bar Trevor Hopf, 62, dead in his home in Elardus Park, where he lived alone. A former CBC scholar, Trevor was a free-scoring amateur footballer and the life and soul of many gatherings at Tom's Tavern, a haunt for old footballers in the area.

Hopf, skipf, jumpf

Rest in peace Trevor

You won at the death

Imprinted that picture

With your very last breath

And you went as you said

Marooned in your fate

Alone with your pain

No last message of hate

Was there one last drink

As you started to sink?

For those 62 years

With a brain too quick

Drowned your fears;

Got about on a stick

Laid low by disease

You struggled to walk

Got back on your feet

But you could always talk

God handed you curses

Wine, women and wrong,

Like sharp bible verses

Still you were strong

Three wives, three kids

And great days in court

But it all hit the skids

Just as you thought

Slash your way out?

Even that wouldn’t do

But you never did doubt

Death was coming for you

We all knew Trevor

Was nobody’s fool

Ever so clever

Broke every rule

But life laid him low

It’s true, it ain’t fair

As he limped on

And still tried to care

And for all the bile

As he came to the end

Let me put this on file:

He was nearly my friend

Did I ever mention I was coached by the current England manager? The Roy Hodgson saga

IT was the single, significant fact most people knew little about when Roy Hodson was appointed England manager this week.

The 64-year-old from Croydon started coaching not, as most of his profiles suggest, in Sweden in 1976. He actually began his career a little earlier than that. He was coaching me twice a week at Brooklyn Primary school in Pretoria in 1974, when South Africa was still labouring under Apartheid and the international sports boycott.

When West Brom boss Hodgson, rather than the popular Spurs coach Harry Redknapp, was linked to the toughest job in football last Sunday, my son sent me an email from England. “Isn’t it about time you told the world about Woy  (he pronounces his Rs as Ws) dad? You bored me with that story enough times!”

So, shortly after writing my “Neal and Pray” column for The New Age on Monday (I was about five seconds from predicting every shock outcome this week!), I bashed out a nostalgic piece about my dealings with Hodgson, then playing for Berea Park in the all-white National Football League, nearly 40 years ago.

As a 13-year-old at Valhalla Primary I had been selected for the Northern Transvaal Under 13 Primary Schools squad, along with school pal Noel Cousins – who went on to become South Africa’s most expensive transfer when he moved from Arcadia Shepherds to Moroka Swallows in the 1980s – and Waterkloof Primary’s Roy Wegerle, who played for Jomo Cosmos before going overseas to Rodney Marsh’s Tampa Bay Rowdies, then Chelsea, QPR, Blackburn and Coventry. He even turned out for the USA at two World Cups.

Hodgson was a fine coach. He taught us to pass like Norman “Bite yer legs” Hunter, the Leeds and England star. He urged us to move off the ball, use both feet, keep our eyes open when using our heads. His training methods were firm and exhaustive. He struggled sometimes with the mothers, but then “soccer mums” are the bain of any youth coach’s existence.

At the time, Roy was playing for a very average Berea Park at what was then the local first class cricket ground with racially segregated crowds of around 5,000. I remember him as a cultured but slightly lightweight left-footer, who arrived here billed as a Crystal Palace star.

In truth, and he never tried to hide it, Roy had left Palace and eked out a non-League, semi-professional career in Gravesend, Maidstone and Ashford. Like his fellow Englishmen, Colin Toal and Bobby Houghton, Roy had come to South Africa to rekindle his professional career.

He would occasionally coach me in the Berea junior ranks, but our main link came on that dusty Brooklyn field twice a week for three months, where Hodgson had to trim one last player from his Northern Transvaal squad. There were 15 of us. Only 14 could attend the inter-provincial tournament.

The unfortunate one? Who else? I still remember the tears as Hodgson told me I was unwanted: “I don’t think you’ll be coming Neal, but you’ve got a nice long throw-in.” I went on to play for South African Universities B, Durban City reserves and at semi-professional teams around London before winning the Over-35s FA Cup at the age of 49. But essentially, Roy’s judgement was sound. It always has been.

Hodgson was teaching at Hillview High School at the time, when he wasn’t playing and coaching football. A year later, he left for Sweden with Bobby Houghton, where the pair – less than successful at Berea Park – transformed Scandinavian football.

Houghton coached Malmo to Sweden’s only European final while Hodgson guided Halmstad to heights they have never subsequently managed. Years later, when Sven Goran Eriksson was named England manager, he told us: “Houghton and Hodgson were my inspirations as a young coach.”

You can imagine my surprise when Roy turned up at Blackburn Rovers in 1997. He had a vague recollection of our days together as he struggled to keep the 1995 English champions clear of relegation.

He disappeared overseas again after that, two stints with Inter Milan were the highpoints of his club career, while he achieved moderate success with Switzerland, Finland and the United Arab Emirates as an international boss.

Then he returned to manage Fulham five years ago, did well enough with an average side before a nightmarish 18 months at Liverpool. And this season he calmly guided a weak West Brom squad to Premier League safety.

With his contract about to expire – and Harry Redknapp’s Spurs demanding huge compensation for their coach – Hodgson suddenly became the safe option, the cheap choice, to lead England to Euro2012 after Fabio Capello opted out three months ago.

So it seemed a perfect time to write about “my part in Hodgson’s rise to England manager” on my blog at  http://neal-collins.blogspot.com/2012/04/roy-hodgson-my-part-in-his-rise-to.html . Occasionally, it becomes a major site. Like when I revealed cricket writer Peter Roebuck’s dodgy lifestyle on the day of his suicide and 22,000 people from all over the world clicked on the site and sent me rude messages. Or the time I lambasted the Welsh rugby side and 10,000 angry Welshmen descended on me.

Normally, I’ll get about 500 hits day. You can imagine my surprise when, on Monday, over 2,500 had read my Hodgson story. By Tuesday, it was up to 12,000 and sparks were starting to fly.

Liverpool fans wanted to know why their former boss was allowed to play in Apartheid South Africa when their current star Luis Suarez is under pressure for racist remarks made to Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

Ordinary England fans – and the notorious tabloid newspapers – wanted to know more. A Fleet Street agency called me, asking if they could have the story and the picture of Hodgson, circa 1973, playing for Berea Park.

The May Day public holiday became a welter of interviews – on Britain’s Channel4 by Skype, on Sky Sports by telephone, with BBC radio late at night. Everyone wanted to know why Roy had decided to play in South Africa of all places in those dim, distant years of darkness. Though football was the first sport under Apartheid to ignore racial segregation and form the old NPSL, I had to explain that only happened in 1978, a full two years after Roy had left for Sweden.

Channel 4’s Keme Nzerem asked me: “Do you think Roy was right to play in South Africa at that time?” I thought hard. I too had emigrated here as a 9-year-old in 1970. My dad, who made the same choice as Roy, was sitting next to me. He’s lived in Centurion for over 40 years. But I had no choice. An honest answer. Would I have come to a pariah state to play in a racially segregated league in my mid-20s? “No,” I said, “But I don’t think Roy was guilty of racism, he was young and naïve. The most you can accuse him of is ignorance. If you’d watched the TV or read a newspaper, you’d have known all about Apartheid.”

They asked if Roy ever tried to bring black lads in to the team. Of course he hadn’t. I told the story of Arthur, a young coloured lad who tried to play with us at Berea Park before being told to scarper. He was better than Noel. I was a bit upset, but nothing happened. In those days, nobody asked questions, nobody tainted the pure white gloss of our sports teams. Black football belonged in the townships.

Searching for the right words, I told the various British interviewers: “Under Apartheid, it was like Germany before the second World War. Nobody asked where the Jews were. They just got on with their lives. It was only when I got to 16 or 17 I realised the black lads loved football too… and things began to change before I left for England in 1985.”

Fired up by this single, controversial chapter in Hodgson’s life – unwittingly exposed by my blog - the question was soon flying across the world to Wembley.

At 4pm on Tuesday, when Hodgson was officially unveiled as England coach, he was asked, much to the chagrin of many conservative football fans: “Why did you go to South Africa under Apartheid?”

It was the question I had raised, put forward by Channel 4. Hodgson, ever the diplomat, handled it with reasonable aplomb. He said: "I was young at the time, and went there purely for football reasons. I was desperate to play football professionally again.

“All the English lads who went out there were anti-apartheid, but there's not much we could have done about it. We all thought it was an evil regime.

“But I think it’s unfair to bring all this up now, after 40 years."

He’s probably right of course. Many others took the same route, cricketers, rugby stars and footballers like George Best and Kevin Keegan all came to South Africa during the FIFA ban and sports boycott.

And while many twittered me to say I had caused an unnecessary storm, this was my response: “Two words. Evil regime. With that Hodgson has established his anti-racist credentials. Given the John Terry situation hanging over England, that can’t be a bad thing.”

The compliments and insults continue to flood in to my various inboxes on Twitter, Facebook and email. Ultimately though, the job is done. The truth of Roy Hodgson’s time in Apartheid South Africa – glossed over by most of the online profiles – is out, the questions have been asked, elderly demons exorcised for the oldest manager ever appointed by the FA.
My old mate Mark Gleeson put out a piece on Reuters which appeared everywhere from the Chicago Tribune to the London Guardian http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/05/02/soccer-safrica-hodgson-idINDEE8410D220120502 while Channel 4 put this out: http://www.channel4.com/news/hodgon-urges-england-fans-to-support-him and I got to mention it on eNews and eTV's Sunrise in my regular Monday slots.

Now all we have to worry about is his ability as an England boss when he takes over after West Brom’s final two Premier League games and names a squad for Euro 2012. Never inspirational with big clubs, but always capable of forging average players in to a cohesive unit, the jury is out. Will he be another Steve McClaren or an inspirational Terry Venables?

The bottom line is, he’s a nice bloke. A superb coach. A thinker. He may not have lit up Pretoria, but 40 years on: good luck Roy. You might need it.

This story first appeared on page 22 of The New Age on Friday... see www.thenewage.co.za.

FACT BOX:

The whites-only National Football League (NFL) was the first pro football league in South Africa. It was established in 1959 during the apartheid era, and no black, “coloured” or “Indian” players were allowed to participate. When NFL folded after 18 years in 1977, it was superseded by a non-racial league. In practical terms, a merger happened between NFL (for whites) and NPSL (for blacks), to become the new common NPSL. “Indian” teams and “coloured” teams gradually came on board. South Africa was banned by FIFA in 1961 but a range of foreign stars – including Gordon Banks, Derek Dougan, Bobby Charlton, Mick Channon and former England stars Alan Ball and Johnny Haynes played despite Apartheid sports boycott. So too did former England boss Kevin Keegan. But his time at Cape Town Spurs was never raised during his tenure. The FIFA ban was not lifted until 1993.

Roy Hodgson: My part in his rise to England manager

Out of Africa: Roy Hodgson, front row centre, in 1973

ROY HODGSON’S Wikipedia entry claims: “Hodgson started his managerial career in 1976 at the Swedish top division side Halmstad.”

No doubt everyone will be picking that up and using it tomorrow as the world debates the pros and cons of the 64-year-old West Brom boss being made England manager ahead of the people's choice, Harry Redknapp.

And they’d be wrong.

I can exclusively reveal Woy (as he is known, for obvious reasons to anyone who has heard him talk) actually started his coaching career in Pretoria, South Africa. I should know. I was one of his earliest products in 1974.

Hodgson (note, appointed England manager at 4pm on May 1)  arrived a year earlier at my local club in what was then the whites-only National Football League. Berea Park were a very average team in a league dominated at the time by foreign players unwelcome in FIFA-sanctioned countries.

Though Roy was billed as a Crystal Palace star, he had actually been released by the club and came to Berea as a fairly ordinary player from non-League Ashton Town after stints at Gravesend and Maidstone United, then the best non-League side in England.

Still, with Bobby Houghton and Colin Toal, he was one of three cut-price English footballers who arrived in Pretoria despite the Apartheid Sports Boycott in 1973. Apart from playing football for Berea professionally, Roy also tried his hand as a physical education teacher at the local Hillview High School.

He’d coach our Under 14s occasionally at Berea Park and in 1974 I spent three months training with him twice a week at Brooklyn Primary as part of a Northern Transvaal Under 13 representative team which included Roy Wegerle – who went on to play for the United States, Blackburn, Coventry and QPR – and Noel Cousins – who went on to become South Africa’s most expensive player when he moved from Arcadia Shepherds to Moroka Swallows in 1984.

Hodgson was a superb youth coach. He taught us to bend our passes with both feet “like Norman Hunter” and emphasised movement off the ball. He wasn’t too good at dealing with angry parents – soccer mums, as every coach knows, are the nemesis of all youth coaches – but he certainly enhanced our skills on those long afternoons in Brooklyn.

My parting words with Roy? “Sorry son, I don’t think you’re going to make it as a footballer. Nice long throw though.” Tough, but true. We’ve talked about it a few times over the years since.

Hodgson and Houghton went on to coach Berea to relegation that year. The club never really recovered. Then, as a duo, they went to Sweden. Houghton took Malmo to the European Cup final in 1979, the first – and last - Swedish side ever to compete in the continental showdown. They lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in Munich.

Hodgson, while helping Houghton, coached nearby Halmstad to unprecedented heights. Years later, when I interviewed Sven Goran Eriksson after he got the England job, he admitted Houghton and Hodgson had played a major role in his coaching career. Sven recalled going to watch both Englishmen coaching in Sweden in the late 70s and borrowing from their training regimes.

After leaving Sweden in 1980, Hodgson started coaching in England with Bristol City, then came the many ferries to Scandinavia, with Oddevold and Orebro before a return to Malmo where he won two league titles and two cups.

After that came Switzerland, where a job with club side Neuchâtel Xamax – and a European victory over Real Madrid - was followed by a successful stint with the Swiss national side.

Inter Milan offered a glimpse of the big time but Hodgson’s two years there were far from comfortable despite reaching a UEFA Cup final, as was his stint at Blackburn Rovers as they slumped from title-winners in 1995 to also-rans under Hodgson by the time he left the club in 1998.

He returned to Inter without great success in 1999, then was off back to Switzerland’s Grasshoppers Zurich in 2000, followed by a title-winning season with FC Copenhagen in Denmark.

Italy called again in 2001, a brief “never should have taken the job” stint with Udinese was followed by international management with the United Arab Emirates. Then, in 2004, it was off to Scandianivian obscurity with Viking and Finland before the second coming.

Mohammed Al Fayed, scouring the world for a Fulham boss, plumped for Hodgson and three strong seasons there saw him move to Liverpool. Average results and an impatient Kenny Dalglish ended that reign and last year he moved to West Brom.

Having kept them up, England came calling over the weekend. The Baggies agreed to let him talk to the FA and Harry Redkapp – the popular choice – said yesterday: “Good luck to the lad. I’m not one to hold grudges. He’s a fabulous fellow, Roy. I hope he does well.”

But the truth is of course, Hodgson is a safe pair of hands. Redknapp, with his tax problems and wheeler-dealer image on top of Tottenham’s recent slump – Sunday saw their first win since early April – became too much for the conservative old farts in the FA.

Out of contract in June, Hodgson, though never successful at the bigger clubs, will do the job quietly and competently. But dear old ‘Arry would have got the nation roaring before Euro 2012 and caretaker Stuart Pearce migh have been a better choice.

Hodgson is the easy option. And, given Tottenham’s reported demands for compensation, a cheaper option.

Personally, I hope Roy succeeds with England where bigger, better names have failed. And not just because I was there when his coaching career began 38 years ago.

But I’m not holding my breath.

It's official: Bongani Khumalo signs for Spurs, and it could be crucial for Harry's hopes

South Africa’s hottest prospect Bongani Khumalo has signed a pre-contract agreement to join Tottenham for £1.5million (R18 million) in the January transfer window.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp admits: "Bongani is not expensive. We had him over on trial and we like him. He's got potential and we've got a tie-up with his club SuperSports United so we've taken him on.

The move, predicted here two months ago, opens up the prospect of Khumalo being joined by fellow Bafana Bafana international Steve Pienaar at Spurs. Redknapp has expressed an interest in the Everton midfielder, who is out of contract in the summer.

Redknapp said: "It will be a great chance for Bongani. He's a great lad. He comes from a poor background and he's desperate for a chance and we're going to give him a chance."

We’ll discuss the “poor background” bit later, but Tottenham's official statement yesterday read: "We are delighted to announce that we have reached a pre-contract agreement with SuperSport United for the transfer of Bongani Khumalo to the club in January 2011 subject to a work permit being granted.

"The club has enjoyed a successful association with Supersport United having formed a long-term partnership with the South African champions back in 2007."

With Ledley King’s knees ever-troublesome, Michael Dawson still recovering from injury and Jonathan Woodgate unavailable for months, towering defender Khumalo – whose Christian name means “happiness” - could yet be the key to Tottenham staying in the Premier League’s top four this season.

Redknapp’s creaking centre-back pairing of William Gallas and Sebastien Bassong were anything but watertight as they leaked four early goals against Inter Milan last Tuesday.

The 23-year-old, 6ft 2in Khumalo, who scored in South Africa’s World Cup win over France in June, barely put a foot wrong during the tournament and enjoyed a successful two-week trial at White Hart Lane in August.

Khumalo, born in Swaziland but a regular in the South Africa side with 19 caps, should have no trouble gaining a work permit before the big move which should happen pretty darn quick after the New Year dawns. Spurs fans will be hoping they are still in contention for the title at that point – and have survived the Champions League cut after that epic 4-3 defeat against holders Inter in Group A.

Redknapp would have signed Khumalo during the summer but he gambled on the old war-horse Gallas (a 33-year-old on a free transfer from arch-rivals Arsenal) and lost Dawson when he sprained his ankle playing in England’s 4-0 win over Bulgaria early in the season.

At the time, SuperSports United chairman Khulu Sibiya made it known he would have let Khumalo go “for just a little more money”.

Today the club released a statement saying: “Supersport United are pleased to announce that a pre-contract agreement with Tottenham Hotspur for the transfer of Bongani Khumalo with effect from January 2011 has been concluded, subject to a work permit being granted.

“In paying tribute to the player, Supersport United Chairman, Khulu Sibiya, expressed his delight with the opportunity granted to Khumalo who joined the club at the beginning of the 2007/2008 PSL season.

“Bongani has been an exceptional player for Supersport United. His three and a half years at the club has seen him develop into one of the best footballers in the country and his contribution was a major factor in the club winning three consecutive ABSA Premiership League titles. Everyone at the club wishes him well in his future career at Tottenham Hotspur.

“ We are equally proud of the fact that Bongani is joining our partners, Tottenham Hotspur, with whom we have enjoyed a fantastic and fruitful relationship since 2007 and we are convinced that this relationship will continue to grow from strength to strength in the years to come.”

But there is always the lingering memory of one Mbulelo OJ Mabizela and his time in North London.

Mabizela scored a cracker on his debut for Spurs in 2003 but never settled. Khumalo should have no such problems and is widely expected to rival everything achieved by Lucas Radebe in a glorious decade with Leeds United which came to a close in 2005.

Despite Redknapp’s insistence that he is form “a poor background”, Khumalo’s mum is an English teacher and his late father was a lecturer in African languages at UNISA. He is articulate and well-balanced and will have all the support he needs in London. He says: “As a professional you need to carry yourself very well. It’s vital you train well and set a good example on and off the field. I live in that lifestyle.

“You have to stay motivated, stay strong mentally. I have always wanted to play in England and obviously in the Premier League, and it is my dream to move to Tottenham. It is up to me to make sure it works.

"Playing in the Champions League would be another dream. I think the Champions League is the closest level to the World Cup in terms of quality and the play, so it would be great to make the move."

Yes, that’s the way the lad talks. With conviction. Khumalo explains: “My mum was an English teacher at a high school, so English was always the main focus. I speak English the way I was taught.”

The great chief himself, Radebe, adds this: "Bongani is destined for great heights in his football career,” while Gavin Hunt, the coach who has seen Supersport United win three consecutive South Africa Premier League titles despite their tiny fan base, says: "People should realise that Bongani is a player who has the quality to play in one of the top leagues in Europe.

"He has matured so well in the last few years and I am so pleased that he has been given the chance to experience this World Cup in South Africa."

KHUMALO: the story so far:

1987: Born in Manzini, Swaziland, when his parents were working there.

1989: Moved to the township of Mamelodi near Pretoria aged two.

2001: Played junior football for Arcadia Shepherds, the once-famous Pretoria club responsible for grooming such luminaries as Aston Villa’s European Cup winner Peter Withe and former Blackburn, QPR and Coventry star Roy Wegerle.

2005: Moved to the University of Pretoria, who operate a second division side in South Africa.

2007: Signed for SuperSports United.

2010: He drives a Seat Leon Cupra (“the beast”) and told me during the World Cup: “We all want to play for big teams overseas and if the opportunity comes I’ll jump at it.”

VERDICT: Bongani, there’s no way you’ll “do an OJ” when you come over in January. But if you need a sympathetic bloke to show you London, I’m here pal. Despite the fact I grew up playing for Arcadia Shepherds’ arch-rivals Berea Park, you’re welcome to share my house with my four crazy kids any time. All I ask in return is that you turn out, just once, for my team Goldhill Baptists on the common in Chalfont St Giles, recently voted Buckinghamshire’s Best Kept Village. It’s 23 miles from London. We’re the current national over-35 FA Cup holders and are currently unbeaten atop the South Bucks Church League Division One. I’m the other centre-back. You won’t regret it.